The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea plant, botanically known as Hydrangea paniculata, commercially referred to as a panicle Hydrangea and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘HP217904’.
The new Hydrangea plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in De Kwakel, The Netherlands and Lengerich, Germany. The objective of the breeding program was to create new compact and freely-branching Hydrangea plants with strong sturdy stems, large inflorescences with numerous showy sterile flowers, attractive sterile flower color and good garden performance.
The new Hydrangea plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in August, 2010 in De Kwakel, The Netherlands, of a proprietary selection of Hydrangea paniculata identified as code number 11-0003, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Hydrangea paniculata identified as code number 11-0001, not patented, as the male, or pollen, patent. The new Hydrangea plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Lengerich, Germany in September, 2012.
Asexual reproduction of the new Hydrangea plant by vegetative tip cuttings in a controlled environment in De Kwakel, The Netherlands since March, 2014 has shown that the unique features of this new Hydrangea plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.